The present invention pertains to a device for feeding book blocks into the infeed channel of a subsequent process or equipment.
A book block feeder introduces book blocks that are supplied while lying flat into the infeed channel of subsequent processing arrangements. There exist book block feeders that are arranged in perfect-binding lines at the transition from the gathering machine to the perfect binder. In this way, the perfect binder can not only be used for the production of perfect-bound brochures, but also for gluing and lining already sewn book blocks. The bound book blocks are transferred to a downwardly curved slide by a conveyor belt that is aligned transverse to the infeed channel and essentially dropped into the infeed channel vertically from above, wherein the feed takes place in accordance with the cycle of the pushers that push the book blocks forward in the channel.
A different design of a book block feeder is known from DE 71 25 313 U. Book blocks are supplied while lying flat and positioned upright by a star feeder that intermittently rotates about a rotational axis oriented parallel to the channel direction and is realized in the form of a roller that is divided into disks and features several block receptacles in the form of cutouts that are arranged in a star-shaped fashion and respectively feature perpendicularly aligned first and second locating surfaces. The book blocks that were positioned upright by the star feeder are transported away by a pusher of the infeed channel of the subsequent processing arrangement.
Known book block feeders have the disadvantage that the book blocks are taken hold off and transported away by the continuously moving pushers in a jerky fashion after they were transversely introduced into the infeed channel. This can lead to permanent deformations of the book blocks at high processing speed. When processing loose book blocks that are not yet bound such as, for example, book blocks produced on a digital printing machine, the individual sheets and/or quartos may shift relative to one another due to the jerky transport such that not even vibration makes it possible to return them into an aligned formation. Another characteristic is the rigid drive coupling of the book block feeder to the infeed channel or the subsequent processing arrangement, respectively, such that a book block processed by the book block feeder is inevitably fed to a certain pusher of the infeed channel and therefore a certain transport segment of the subsequent processing arrangement. This does not allow flexible processing of the supplied book blocks.